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Could Piplup be the newest face of Pokémon? Mysterious, cute video prompts speculation

Dale Roll May 22, 2021
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Piplup fans, your time has come!!

For a long time, Pikachu was, more or less, the generally accepted mascot of Pokémon. Since its place as Ash’s MVP in the anime has pretty solidified that it would always star in the show, it has earned the job of unofficial spokes-monster, appearing as the main ambassador for Pokémon events and even associating with A-list celebrities.

Then Eevee joined the fray. This cute, brown and white, fox-like creature with adorably giant ears has recently worked alongside Pikachu as another face of the Pokémon franchise ever since the release of the Let’s Go! Pokémon games. It even joined the Pikachu Outbreak!

We’ve been happy with these two adorable mascots for the last few years, but it seems like the Pokémon Company isn’t ready to stop yet. On May 13 they released a mysterious video on their Japanese YouTube channel titled, “Project Pochama Start”. Could we be a getting a new face of Pokémon?!

The video stars the Generation IV water type starter, Piplup (known as Pochama in Japanese), which is a very cute blue and white penguin-like Pokémon. We get to see some adorable shots Piplup waddling around a photo studio, going to hair and makeup, picking out a costume, participating in a photoshoot, and dancing!

▼ Seriously can’t get enough of the wiggling

＼あのポケモンが、YouTubeデビュー⁉✨／

この後ろ姿は、もしかして…？🐧🤭

動画でぜひチェックしてください👇https://t.co/pFh4vwsbeH pic.twitter.com/Eq7bDbevIp

— 【公式】ポケモン情報局 (@poke_times) May 14, 2021

Other than the shots in video, which don’t tell us much about what the project is about, there isn’t much info out there about what “Project Pipulp” means. The above tweet by the official Pokémon Company Twitter only said, “Who’s that Pokémon making a YouTube debut?” and the video description writes:

“With Project Piplup, we want to share with the world Piplup’s special charms. We’ll be doing various things together with Piplup so that we can keep supporting you, trainers!”

Hmmm….mysterious! What we can at least gather from this small amount of information is that we’ll no doubt be getting lots of Piplup-centered events, marketing, and goods. For sure there will be Piplups making their debut in the flesh. Will they be joining Pikachu at this year’s Pikachu Outbreak? We can only hope. Piplup fans, your time has come!!

Japanese Pokémon fans were equal parts intrigued and excited to see this video:

“What does this mean?”
“So Pochama is joining the ranks of Vtubers?”
“Did Piplup get its hair and makeup done?”
“It’s so chubby!!”
“Round Pokémon are so cute.”
“First was Eevee, next is Piplup, huh? It is cute.”

Some Pokémon fans appeared to be a little miffed that the Pokémon Company keeps trying to force us to love particular Pokémon, but in my opinion, who doesn’t want more Pokémon events and goods?! Besides, Piplup fans are probably overjoyed at the prospect of seeing their favorite Pokémon in the spotlight the for once.

As for what to expect…well, who knows? There haven’t been any more announcements since the initial release of the video…so we’ll just have to wait and see what’s to come!

Source: YouTube/Pokémon Official Channel via Otacom
Images: YouTube/Pokémon Official Channel
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